Has YouTube bought Twitch for more than US$1 billion?

Regulators likely to challenge deal

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According to a new report, Google-owned YouTube has acquired the video game streaming website Twitch for a deal worth more than US$1 billion.

Sources "familiar with the deal" have told Variety that the deal will be officially announced soon, however the Wall Street Journal is reporting that the deal is still in talks and a final price hasn't been decided upon.

Despite what stage the deal may be in, Variety is reporting that YouTube is preparing to go up against US regulators over the sale due to anti-competitive concerns in the online video streaming space.

YouTube streaming

An acquisition would be a numbers-boosting coup for YouTube, as its own live streaming service YouTube Live, for live events including Google+ Hangouts, gaming, news, music and sporting events, isn't as popular as Twitch - at least for video game streaming.

Twitch's live streaming capabilities on the other hand is already integrated into EA's Origin service, uPlay, both next-gen consoles Xbox One and PS4, along with others.

And though the start up, live-streaming service launched just a few years back in 2011, Twitch now has a million active broadcasters and more than 45 million unique visitors who consume 13 billion minutes of internet video every month.